May 11, 2015
The Catholic University of America will confer approximately 1,850 degrees during its 126th Annual Commencement Ceremony, which will be held outdoors at 10 a.m. Saturday, May 16, on the east steps of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, 400 Michigan Ave., N.E.The following week, at 11 a.m. on Friday, May, 22, more than 125 degrees will be distributed inside the basilica to students graduating from CUA's Columbus School of Law.Mary Higgins Clark, best-selling author and suspense novelist, will deliver the Commencement address to the Class of 2015 on May 16. Michael J. Bidwill, president of the Arizona Cardinals football team and a CUA law alumnus, will address the law school graduates.Higgins Clark and Bidwill will each receive a Doctor of Humane Letters degree from the University. Honorary degrees will also be conferred at the main Commencement exercises on author-scholar Michael Novak as well as Francisco José Gómez de Argüello y Wirtz and Maria Carmen Hernández Barrera, co-initiators of the Neocatechumenal Way, a Catholic movement. Outstanding students will be lauded during the Honors Convocation at 1 p.m. on Friday, May 15, at the Basilica. The same day, students and their families will also attend the 4 p.m. Baccalaureate Mass in the Basilica, Great Upper Church. For other Commencement details, visit commencement.cua.edu. For information about other Commencement venues in the event that inclement weather precludes an outdoor ceremony, visit commencement.cua.edu/inclement-weather.cfm.MEDIA: For more information or to make arrangements to cover the University's main Commencement ceremony, contact Katie Lee or Mary McCarthy Hines in the Office of Public Affairs at 202-319-5600 or cua-public-affairs@cua.edu.